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LBS wheel building questions

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schwinnduke

Look Ma, No Hands!
Hi,
I've just taken a pair of rims, hubs etc to be laced at a local to me bike shop and rather than intrigue I was greeted with negativity! The bike shop has a fairly decent reputation so I've left them with the wheels whilst they wait for answers to their issues:
Is it correct front and rear spokes are the same size/length?
How is the rear cog removed to be able to thread the spokes?
What spoke pattern is required?
I'm using 80s repop chrome S2s, New Departure DD, front Schwinn hub, and bicylebones 14g 10 5/8 spokes.
Any help appreciated to the above questions
 
Get your stuff back and do it yourself. They obviously have no clue. There are plenty of posts here for removing the hub guts and videos/post for lacing. V/r Shawn
This is typical of my luck! I've spent the last three months with time on my hands, I start back to work this week and bang! No spare time!!
Am I at least on the right track that my spokes are correct and 4x would be the pattern?
Removing the cog - do I require special tools and/or a skip tooth chain whip?
Huge thanks
 
Your spokes are correct for this build and yes front and rear are the same. Four across--plenty of info to show you how to do this. On the sprocket side take off the locknut and cone nut and the sprocket side will unwind off the driver. This isn't rocket science even though the first couple of times will be a little trying. A skill, once learned, that will save you a lot of time and money down the road if you mess with this stuff very much. V/r Shawn
 
get some of these. If you can find a used truing stand it would save you money
 
Shawn:
I agree completely with your post. However, you used a term that I fight to remove from the English language. There is no such thing as "rocket science." When you are designing, building, and launching rockets, that is not science; it is engineering. Amielle Major of the The Museum of Science, Boston provides these definitions: "Science is the body of knowledge that explores the physical and natural world. Engineering is the application of knowledge in order to design, build and maintain a product or a process that solves a problem and fulfills a need (i.e. a technology)." Wernher von Braun and the other Germans who came to the US after WW2 and started the US space program called themselves aerospace engineers. Note that scientists can do engineering and engineers can do science, but the focus of the activities is different.

Thank you for your attention. I feel better.
 
So here are a couple things-
1- Different diameter flanges will use different length spokes for build- smaller flanges require
longer spokes for the same rim.
1a- any two 26 rims will not necessarily use the same spoke lengths for a given hub.
2- More crosses mean longer spokes.
3- A hub with a lockring over the cog and no spokes is going to be more difficult to get the cog off off.

Generally, you can use the leverage of the wheel and a hook spanner to aid in removing the lockring
and a chain whip to remove the threaded cog. Without spokes, it is tough to hold the hub and remove
the lockring and cog.
3a- Bendix with a snap ring is not an issue.

4- 10 5/8 are a pretty common length spokes, but you could use the spoke calculator(see 1 above)

Also- while there is something to be said for professionalism, in the US most bicycle stores(LBS) are
swamped with repairs. They are working long days just keeping up with mundane repairs.
While we all think classic stuff is extremely cool, and our needs are no different - to most stores they
create a challenge as it is stuff they don't see and work with on a regular basis.
Please cut them a little slack.

rusty
 
Just to make sure you are straight--based on the info you supplied above concerning hubs, wheels, and spokes you are good with standard four across pattern. V/r Shawn
 
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